Jasmijn E.'s Profile

I'd walked past this place lots of times since they opened because when I come to Little Tokyo, I'm usually in the mood for Japanese food (go figure). But I'd been here several times in the last couple of weeks so I was willing to have something else. Brought hubby to try the "not unhappy hour" I'd noticed the first time.

The first and most important thing I can say is: BASIL LEMON DROP. Definitely the best $6 I have ever spent on a drink, and quite possibly my favorite cocktail ever now.

The street car fries are, as everyone says, very very good (if you're the kind of person who likes stuff all over their fries, and I am), and so was the donner kebab.  The happy hour menu is good, their usual drink prices are also quite decent (around $6/pint for beer, $7/glass for wine).

But it's the lemon drop I'll be coming back for.

Husband and I were walking by on our way home and notice, hey, a vodka bar. Peering in the glass, we liked the decor. They were closed but a very nice man opened the patio door to tell us it opens at five and there's a freezer room and drink specials and we should come back.  He was so pleasant that we did, even though I'm not really a vodka person, and ended up staying for quite a while.

Lindsey was tending bar that night and she's really good. We came at about 5:20 and were the first in, but as people came in during the next couple of hours the service didn't slack off. Knew the customers who had evidently been there before, made drink recommendations for us, gave us a taste of the "buffalo grass" vodka (yum!). Hub had the $6 slider special (2 sliders + fries, a good portion!) and I had veggie fries.  Turns out the Flames Mediterranean grill next door acts as their kitchen, and the food gets passed through a little window behind the bar. Clever!

Went back for girls' night out a couple of nights later with a friend who loves vodka. I think Abigail was the waitress; she was OK, but given that there were only 4 other people beside us, and we were the only ones actually sitting at the bar, I felt we could have got a lot more attention (or at least interaction) without expecting too much.  I had the $6 chicken skewer special (vy good: 2 skewers) and then we split the $8 "lettuce wraps" (which turned out to be more like Vietnamese spring rolls) and it was a BIG order and just fabulous.

Happy Hour drinks include wine and pilsner as well as $5 well drinks. We will be going here again -- probably quite a bunch of times. Including sometime when the DJ is playing. And we'll always order the lettuce wraps.

Love the decor, too, btw: kinda industrial/dark/sophisticated. About 8 seats at an L-shaped bar, some tall tables downstairs, nice little loungy place upstairs. Super cool place :)

Thanksgiving dinner: 6 dishes made with turkey, including salad, and none of them with those weird marshmallow-topped-yam things on the side. Pretty darn good, I say!  OK, so it wasn't the traditional meal to introduce our English friend to for her first exposure to American Thanksgiving, but frankly I think we were all better off this way.

It was all delicious. We'd come for lunch once before, also quite decent.  Service was fine both times.

And I like the fresh light-green decor.

For ages I complained about not having found a ramen-ya that I really loved in Little Tokyo (and I'm not about to drive to West LA and fight for a parking space every time I want ramen). Daikokuya... meh. Kouraku... pretty good, but still not "wow"... So then I decided to give this a go and WOW!

The only broth they have is a pork based one, pretty strong flavored pork-y, so if you're not in the mood for that, go to one of the other places. As I probably will occasionally if this current fixation wears off. So far I'm quite happy with it.

They have half-size ramen, which is great as I often can't finish the full size one, and often miss out on having ramen at all b/c I feel bad about leaving a lot in the bowl. And if you are hungry and order the full size and are STILL hungry, well, then, just order extra noodles! Cheep!

Love the toppings. So far spinach and crunchy pig's ear are my faves. Brought my son here (who doesn't like ramen but discovered that Japanese style fried chicken -- kara-age -- is fantastic) and my husband (a couple of nights ago when I had the blues for no good reason and was craving ramen: it cured me, hallelujah!) and they are both fans now.

One caveat (OK, another one, counting the pork broth thing): don't come if you have a headache, though. A lot of shouting all the time about everything that's going on, in Japanese: "welcome!" - "clear table #5" - "table 2 is paying!" - "table 7 is ready!" - "customer is leaving!" etc.

There's a separate listing for "Coast Starlight" and there I wrote about our actual experience riding this train; see http://www.yelp.com/bi...

The kind person who commented that our friend probably got switched to a different route -- which prompted this earlier review I wrote -- is probably right, and I thank him for his caution.

We went from LA to Oakland and back, taking reserved coach seats up and a 2-person sleeper compartment back, so keep that in mind while reading this review.

Overall: my young-teenage son and I both loved it. It was by far our favorite trip up to the Bay area. We're both ready for a longer trip as soon as it can be arranged.

It takes 11 hours, which is surprising when you think that driving the same trip takes about 8 hours and it's a one-hour flight. But the time goes by so quickly! Neither of us was bored.  I brought 3 books to read and only ended up opening one a couple of times.  Mostly I wore out my camera batteries.

The coach seats up were incredibly comfortable. There's so much leg room, the seats are wide, and there's a foot rest that lifts up. Given that you can recline your seat without putting your head in the lap of the person behind you (as on a plane), it was very easy to nap in our seats.  Also it helps that you can get up and walk around without being yelled at to stay in your seat!  Since it's a train, you can also take a potty break any time you want without having to look for roadside options, make your bag as heavy as you want (there are limits on number of bags and their dimensions, but not weight), and you neither have to be x-rayed to get on board nor put all your toiletries in a baggy. There are electric outlets at each seat, and, of course, a fold-down tray table to put your laptop, lunch, or guide book on.

The dining car is open to everyone and serves meals. Not inexpensive, but not startlingly costly. Expect to pay between $10 - $25 for a full meal, and they're only full meals:  no appetizers/sides.  Drinks are separate: beer, wine, soft drinks, or milk. There is also a cafe car that sells burgers, hot dogs, etc.  (If you are in a sleeper, the meals are all included, which does help offset the huge step up in price.)  Yes, if there are fewer than 4 people in your party, you'll be seated w/ strangers to fill up the tables and accommodate everyone. This is not a bad thing. Some really interesting, fun conversations can ensue, so enter with a spirit of adventure and community even if you're not used to meeting people over salad.

The Observation Car is mostly windows and the view along this route is amazing, from the Pacific where the tracks run right beside the beach for a few hours (Ventura to beyond Santa Barbara) to the inland rolling golden hills of Paso Robles and the wide farmland of the Central valley.  There are some 4-person tables, and some single/double seats that face out toward the windows.  

The Parlor Car is the only place this train gets wifi -- make a note of that. The Parlor Car is also only open to passengers who have booked a sleeper, so if you haven't, plan to rely on  your smartphone to keep in touch with the internet en route if you really need to be connected to the outside world.  As a sleeper car passenger, you can choose to take your meals in the Parlor Car instead of the dining car, and although it doesn't have as much window frontage as the Observation Car, you can hang out here in one of the comfy armchairs that face outward, too.  There was a free daily afternoon wine and cheese tasting in here on our trip, and there is a TV room downstairs that shows 2 movies a day as well.

The 2-person sleeper car is TINY.  I'm glad we tried it for the fun of closing our glass door, drawing our hallway curtains, and sleeping on a train (we napped for the 2+ hours between dinner and our arrival at Union Station) but otherwise I think the coach seats are actually far more comfortable. Each little compartment just holds 2 seats, facing each other, so you have to sit with your legs interlaced with your companion's if you want to extend them at all.  (I ended up spending most of the trip in the Parlor Car while my son enjoyed his private cabin.)  The two chairs slide down toward each other to make the bottom bunk, and the top one folds down from the ceiling: that's how you end up with 2 beds, with real linens and bedding for each.  The larger rooms look more comfortable, being configured differently, and some also have their own showers; if we'd actually traveled overnight, we'd have ended up taking turns in the hallway shower with the rest of the small sleeper room passengers (not impossible, by any means, but potentially inconvenient).

If I could afford the greater time and money that train travel requires more often, I'd travel by train all the time.  This was a great introduction and we'll be looking for opportunities to do something similar again soon.

First time having chicken and waffles, and I'm glad it was here because it was FANTASTIC and now I "get it" -- if I'd gone to a lesser place, I'd prob never try it again; it doesn't really sound like something that would be particularly special.

The fried chicken was definitely among the best I've ever had. Moist, juicy, crisp crust that stuck on... mmmmm. The waffle was crispy and chewy, just as a waffle should be (I'm not a fan of "belgian" waffles all gooey and mushy with syrup). The grits were a nice counterpoint.

(I was a bit disappointed in the greens, which I found salty too, but that's probably not their fault.  I blame my friend Louis' wife, Cynthia, who makes the best greens I've ever had, and any I've eaten in any restaurant has consistently fallen short.  I'm just going to avoid ordering them from now on, and try angling for another invitation to dinner instead.)

Also I love the decor, from the Jetson-esque furnishings and sparkle to the painted portrait of each dish and its person, on the wall behind the counter.

Come eat here, people.  It's good.

I love this hotel! I'm already planning a trip back to Oakland just so I can stay here again.

I picked it because my son and I were taking Amtrak up, arriving well after sunset, and didn't want to wander through the dark streets of Oakland (gasp!) to find our hotel. So glad I chose it over the other local places: walking around in daylight, I could see it's miles ahead of them.

The decor is adorable. I love how JDV can do so much to an older hotel with just paint, wallpaper, and fabric, and make it seem much trendier and more attractive than a brand new beige box hotel. (I've stayed in other hotels in this chain, and it's always been cool.)

The room is clean, comfortable, and HUGE. Ditto the pillows! The Keurig coffee/tea brewer in the room was a great help, there were extra blankets, a massage showerhead, and blackout curtains. Also, we had chosen a room that faced the city instead of the sea, and so was less than a block from the train tracks that run right down Embarcadero/1st street -- but the soundproof windows meant that the frequent blaring train horns were barely audible... and those things are LOUD. (Note that every other hotel around Jack London Square has complaints of train noise keeping people up at night.)

The free wifi worked perfectly, which is another thing that I've not found to be consistent at other hotels. There is also a tiny "business center" with two computers in the lobby, currently $4.95 for the first 20 mins of use and then a per-minute charge.

The hotel restaurant is currently being fixed up after flooding damage, but they had free breakfast in the lobby: not just the usual carbfest, but piles of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, yogurt as well. Very satisfying.   The service was uniformly friendly, helpful, and excellent, whether from the front desk staff, the shuttle driver (free, every half hour or so), or the people keeping the breakfast stocked.

Location is also great: 10 min or less walk from Amtrak, and the ferry to Alameda/SF is even closer. BART into the city is 10 short city blocks inland, near Old Town Oakland. There's a free bus, the "B", that runs from JLSquare up into town, if you don't feel like walking. To keep yourself supplied in comfort, wander over to the BevMo or Cost Plus nearby and stock up on snacks and drinks.

Admittedly here in the off season, the $119/night rate we got for our 2-queen room may be the least we've paid for staying in the Bay Area.  And for all this comfort, attractive surroundings, and great service! This may very well become our new home in the Bay Area for future trips. I just can't recommend it highly enough.

Our nursing school made caps optional in 1991 and few have ordered them even for ceremonial occasions in I don't know how many years. About half the women in my class decided we wanted to have nursing caps to mark this achievement even if we didn't wear them on the floor. The difficulty was finding "our" caps again -- they are a unique design and quite different from the standard folded cap.  

Luckily we finally found one of our alumnae had hers at hand and from the label inside we saw it was from Kay's and the stamped number beneath turned out to be the style number assigned to this custom design. Kay's customer service was amazing! The response to my email came within a day, as did the answer to every following email I sent them with questions and concerns, and they really worked hard to meet the short turnaround time we had left until our graduation day. Given that this is a custom design they hadn't made in years, and a complicated and unusual one at that, I'm really impressed at how quickly they made and shipped them out to us.

I'm also very impressed at the reasonable cost of their caps: for a custom order, with 2nd day shipping, we still paid less than $18 each.  Well worth it for a piece of our lost traditions!

Thank you, Kay's Caps, for helping to make our graduation extra-special!

Update: now they have Happy Hour again! Let there be much rejoicing.

The manager sent me an email a while after I had written the review to tell me so, and we finally got around to checking it out last week.  My husband mourns the loss of the chicken pot pie off the Happy Hour menu, but we found out it is still on the regular one, so we'll come back for that sometime.

In the meantime, we really enjoyed the margarita special, and will come back for the discounted pull of the day when we're in the mood for beer.  As far as happy hour munchies, the rib is amazing (yes, there's only one, and it's not large, but the flavour is fantastic!) and the spring rolls were, too.  Overall it seems the size of the happy hour food items has shrunk, but I can't complain about the taste!

Yes, we'll go back and check out more options.  Kudos to the follow-up I got to my earlier review as I would not have gone back on my own to find out about this.